Sitting beneath the palm trees at their mansion in sunny Dubai, the couple waited with anticipation as the video call connected to their beloved son in London.

It may sound like a scene from everyday life in 2020, but this family gathering was far from normal.

At a virtual sitting of London's family court this week, a judge finally told the wealthy couple's unemployedAlthough he has degrees in modern history, taxation and is a qualified solicitor, the man's lawyer said he had mental health disabilities and had not been in work since 2011. He lives in a flat owned by his parents. son that he could no longer depend on his parents' support.

Instead, at the age of 41, the qualified solicitor will now have to pay his own bills for the first time.

The judge described the case as "most unusual", but for legal experts drastic divorces like this one are becoming an increasingly familiar story.

In 2018, the parents of New Yorker Michael Rotondo won a legal battle to evict their 30-year-old son, who admitted in court that he never contributed to household chores.

And this July, the Italian Supreme Court ruled that adults do not have the automatic right to financial support from their parents after a 35-year-old music teacher complained that his parents were not supplementing his salary.

In Italy, they are called "bamboccioniIn 2010 one Italian cabinet minister, Renato Brunetta, proposed a law that would make it compulsory for teenagers to leave home once they are legally adults.", or "big babies", a phrase coined by former Prime Minister Mario Monti to describe the 65% of 18 to 34-year-olds who still live at home, but it is a phenomenon that is identifiable all over the world.

South Korea is home to the "kangaroo" generation, in the US "boomerang children" return after university to their family homes and in Japan, unmarried women living with their parents endure the unflattering nickname "parasite singles".

To explain this situation, many look to the economy. In the 1980s, a typical British couple in their 20s could expect to save for just three years for a deposit for a house. Now it would take them nearly two decades.

Others blame the parents themselves. "Italian young people must be more courageous, but that's difficult if your mum keeps on bringing a cup of coffee to your bed every morning," says lawyer Gian Ettore GassaniThe head of the Italian Association of Matrimonial Lawyers. He called the Supreme Court's 2020 ruling a "warning for everyone in this country.".

The laws on parental responsibility have changed drastically over the last two centuries.

In the UK, the 1833 Factory Act declared that a second molarA second molar tooth normally appears between the ages of 11 and 13. was acceptable proof that a child was old enough to work. From the time they could haul coals or clamber up chimneys, children were expected to contribute to the family finances.

In comparison, parents today are expected to feed, house and educate their children until they turn 18.

And now some scientists are saying that we should once again reconsider our understanding of when childhood ends and adulthood begins.

For child psychologist Laverne Antrobus, "the idea that suddenly at 18 you're an adult just doesn't ring quite true".

Today, research shows that the brain's prefrontal cortexSitting at the very front of the brain, the prefrontal cortex undergoes key changes during adolescence. Brain scans of children, adolescents and adults show differences in the way people of different ages process information., which affects emotional maturity and reasoning, does not fully develop until a person is 25 years old.

Instead of cutting children off at 18, says Antrobus, young people should be supported through their entire late adolescence.

Yes, say some. Parents should stop infantilising their children and instead encourage them to explore the world and live on their own. Adults are supposed to take care of their elderly parents, not the other way round. Young people like Michael Rotondo should be responsible for earning their own money and paying their own bills, not using up their parent's retirement funds.

No, say others. New research shows that adolescence does not simply end at 18. Parents should keep supporting their children while their brains continue to develop. As house prices rise and wages fall, young people today cannot afford to stop relying on their parents. And as coronavirus hits the economy, youth unemployment is likely to rise - it would help no one to make youths homeless as well.

Unemployed - Although he has degrees in modern history, taxation and is a qualified solicitor, the man's lawyer said he had mental health disabilities and had not been in work since 2011. He lives in a flat owned by his parents.

Bamboccioni - In 2010 one Italian cabinet minister, Renato Brunetta, proposed a law that would make it compulsory for teenagers to leave home once they are legally adults.

Gian Ettore Gassani - The head of the Italian Association of Matrimonial Lawyers. He called the Supreme Court's 2020 ruling a "warning for everyone in this country."

Second molar - A second molar tooth normally appears between the ages of 11 and 13.

Prefrontal cortex - Sitting at the very front of the brain, the prefrontal cortex undergoes key changes during adolescence. Brain scans of children, adolescents and adults show differences in the way people of different ages process information.